Two container scanners to Allenby/King Hussein Bridge crossing

Netherlands to provide two container scanners to Allenby/King Hussein Bridge crossing to boost Palestinian trade
 
The Netherlands will provide two mobile container scanners which will be operated by the Israeli authorities at the West Bank. In a unique form of cooperation, the scanners will be donated to and owned by the PA, but will be operated by Israel “to maintain and ensure” its security requirements.
 
The equipment, costing several million Euros, will be manned by Israeli personnel and will boost the transit of Palestinian goods in and out of the Palestinian Authority by reducing transit costs for businesses and increasing the volume and range of goods allowed through the crossing.
 
The first scanner will be located at the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge Crossing. The location of the second scanner is yet to be decided.
 
Dutch Ambassador to Israel Caspar Veldkamp and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Major General Eitan Dangot, said the scanners would also safeguard Israel's security.
 
As it stands West Bank exports must be loaded into boxes on pallets, then placed on trucks. The trucks then go to the Allenby Bridge Crossing where each pallet is scanned by a pallet scanner, and then re-loaded onto Jordanian trucks waiting on the other side of the border.
 
These trucks then drive to the Jordanian Port of Aqaba where the pallets are unloaded again, the boxes of pitchers taken out and then re-packed into containers for export, greatly adding to costs and transit times.
 
New container scanners will allow product to be loaded in containers at factories, and without further inspection move to the ship, reducing damage, theft and exposure to weather. Research has shown that the scanners could result in an increase of up to 33% of trade flows through Allenby, which will help the Palestinian economy grow.
 
With this initiative, The Netherlands contributes to the implementation of the Agreement on Movement and Access, concluded between the Palestinian Authority and Israel in 2005.
 
The discussions with the Palestinian Authority and Israel over this initiative were conducted with the active involvement of the Office of the Quartet Representative, Mr Tony Blair. The Dutch Foreign Minister said that the deployment of the scanner can boost trade by 30 million Euros per year.